Veganism ‘helps diabetics lose weight and control blood sugar’

Patients following a mainly vegan diet had better blood-sugar control and lost nearly twice as much weight as those on other diets.

A vegan diet has been shown to help control diabetes and blood sugar levels.

Vegans have long championed the health benefits of their diet and now they can point to research suggesting that cutting out meat and dairy can keep type 2 diabetes in check.

Patients following a mainly plant-based or vegan diet had better blood-sugar control and lost nearly twice as much weight as those on other diets, according to the review of studies.

There was also evidence that eating mainly plant-based foods improved people’s moods and may slow progressive nerve damage associated with diabetes, the researchers said.

Almost 3.7 million people have had diabetes diagnosed in the UK, about 90 per cent of whom have type 2, which can occur in people of any weight but is linked to inactivity and obesity.

The authors, from the University of London, the University of Northampton and East Sussex NHS Healthcare Trust, looked at 11 trials that compared plant-based diets — rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds with either no or few animal products — with other eating patterns.

Eight of the trials were fully vegan, and each involved an average of 433 people in their mid-fifties. The analysis showed depressive symptoms and both physical and emotional quality of life scores improved only in the groups following the plant-based diets.

The researchers said that their findings of improved mood were important because depression could affect how well blood glucose levels were controlled. In six of the studies, people on the plant-based diets were able to cut down or discontinue drugs they were taking for diabetes and linked conditions such as high blood pressure.

Both average and fasting blood glucose fell more sharply in the groups who cut out or cut down on animal products, with those patients losing an average 5.23kg, against 2.83kg in comparator groups. Blood fats and nerve pain also fell more in the plant-based groups.

The researchers said: “It can be concluded that plant-based diets accompanied by educational interventions can significantly improve psychological health, quality of life, HbA1c [average blood sugar] levels and weight and therefore the management of diabetes.”

Other experts were more cautious. They pointed out that the changes in diet in the trials were usually accompanied by frequent weekly contact with a health professional, which might in itself improve psychological wellbeing.

Dr Katarina Kos, senior lecturer in diabetes and obesity at the University of Exeter, said that it was widely accepted that weight loss led to improvement in patients with diabetes, adding: “The success of this diet in people with diabetes was probably down to the fact a vegan diet tends to be low in calories and some were specifically low in fat. A non-vegan low-calorie diet might work just as well to have the same effect.”

Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, warned that vegan diets could lead to vitamin B12 deficiency, which can cause anaemia and other conditions. He said: “A vegan diet based on high intakes of refined carbohydrate foods such white bread, white rice, cakes, biscuits, jam and confectionery would not be a good remedy.”

The researchers, whose work was published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, acknowledged that their findings were limited by small sample sizes, and that adherence to the diets was only measured by participants’ own recalls, which may be inaccurate.

The Times